Piston and piston ring



June 24, 1924.' 1,498,762

M. H. SULLIVAN PISTON AND PISTON RING Filed'sem. 14, 1922 T all. whomim@ Patented June 24, 1924.

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" een# meer i cripplilc'atian SULLIVAN, .a citizen. of;v thee-...UnitedStates,` residing at Poughkeepsie, inthe county `of* Dutchess andStateot NewYork, have in#v f vented ll-certain.. new and vusefuly'Improve-p: ments inPistonsand'Piston `-Ringspand I: do declare theOllOwin to'befafulhclear,v

and exact Vdescription o fthe invention, ,such

as `will enable` 1 others skilled. 1 inV the'. art to.l which itappertainsv to make and use the Same. f p A f This inventionhasreference to pistons and piston rings and is an improvement upon thedevice disclosed and claimed in the pending application of Michael H.Sullivan, Serial'No. 475,543,"iledwlune 6, 1921, and also thependingapplication of Michael,

H. Sullivan, Serial No. 511,910, filed Getober 31,1921.

` The improvements forming the subject I matter of this application aredirected to the type of hollow piston having packing rin grooves inwhich are dislosed' sectional pacing rings whichV are yield'adiametrically across the piston, and where the piston is rovided 'th twosectional rings of this c aracter, hey are placed soy that the meetingends of their sections are disposedeout of registry and the ides for thespring means are isposed 1n crossed relation, one belQW the other.

To have the guides for the spring means which yieldably force thesections of the sectional packing rings outwardly disggsed one belowthe'other and both of them ing continuous guides extending from onesidey of the piston to the diametrcallyopposite side, it requiresconsiderable ace 'inthe interior of a piston and in a ort piston it doesnot leave sucient space to permit the connecting rod to be connected tothe piston so as to permit swinging of the connecting rod wit in thepiston. The present inventlon has been designed in order to provide ameans whereby a construction of this general character may be embodiedin 'a short piston so that the guides for the spring means will notinterfere with the connect rod of the piston.

Accor ing to the pmeent invention, sealing blocks are coupled to-- themcetiglgdof the sections o the sectional mea september 142711922.- sernlNaseem:

ly forced out# wardly by spring means mounted upon the"I inside. ofthepiston. This s ringmeans has usually been mounted in gui es whichextend meeting?r 'endsof :the ring sections Linfsuch' ai manner that:'theyfwill bei maintained byA the:

ring: .sections in` engagement with the cylinf' ablv forcesthe'ringsections'outwardlyrand` maintains .them in engagement ywith thecyl-1nd`er;wall1acts.,upon the intermediate por-- tions of-theringsectionsn@'Associated with thls sprmg means are. plungers whichfac"-y -cordingfto the iv resent @invention arel connectedin afnoveymanner tothe intermediate portionsof the' ring sections so'that thelatter are lmaintained centered -about the piston-j 'The novelconstruction alsocauses the srings tof lpress uniformly throughouttheir,:circumferential extent upon the; cylinder wall.- This -isa.result been attained before.'y fy I The novelty in rthe inventionresides in the various features of construction andthe combination andarrangement of arts, which are hereinafter fully described) claimed andshown in the` accompanying drawings;A v

vIn the accompanying drawings' formingV Fig. 4-is a perspective view ofone of thel pllngers which form apart of the device,

' Fig. 5 is a similar view,of one of the sealing blocks which form apart ofthe device.

In the illustrated embodiment ofthe invention, the numeral' 1 designatesthe iston of an internal lcombustion engine. e

piston 1 is of the hollow type having one of lts ends `open and beinprovided with a head 2 at its other end. xtending inwardly from thediametrically op site sides of the piston .1 at points loca i between,the ends 'of thelatter are tubular members 3 which'constitute bearingsfor the ends 'of the piston or wrist pin .4, which connects the upperend of the connecting rod 5 to the piston. e

whchfnever has Y and wall of the piston 1 at intervals of lis ' snappacking| ring 7 lBelow the ring groove 6, the piston 1 is provided witha pair of comparatively deep packing ring grooves v8 and 9. @ne of thewallsof the grooves 8 and 9 at diametrically opposite points are cutaway so as to 'form comparatively long recesses v10. The diametricallyopposite recesses 10 in the groove 8 are disposed out of alinement orregistry with the .diametrically opposite recesses `10 of the groove 9.Preferably the recesses 10 of the groove 8 and the recesses 10 of thegroove 9 are arranged around the about @ne of thev side walls of thegrooves 8 and the recesses 10 of that groove, so that the' recesses 11ofone groove 8 or 9 are dis'- posed out of alinement or registry withthe recesses' 11 of the other groove. Thus, it will be seen that therecesses 11 of one of the grooves 8 and 9 are spaced around the Wall ofthe piston 1 upon arcs of about 90 from the recesses 11 of the othergroove.

` Extending transverselysacross the interior .of the piston 1 andpreferablyformed integrally therewith is a tubular guides12. The

uide 12 has its ends open and -they are osed adjacent and incommunication wit the packing groove 8 and the recesses 11 formedtherein.

Below Ythe guide 12, the piston 1 is provided `with a pair of'inwardly'extending tubular guides 13. The guides 13 are preferably formedintegrally with the piston 1 and extend at right angles to the guide 12from diametrically opposite sides of the istons. They are comparativelyshort and ave closed inner ends which are spaced apart so as to form aspace 14 immediately beneath the guide 12. The outer ends of the guides13, which are open, communicate with the groove 9 and the recesses 11formed therein. y

Disposed in the ring grooves 8 vand 9 are comparatively wide packingrings 15. The

packing rings 15 are each made in two semicircular sections 16. vThesections 16 have arcuate grooves 17 in one of their sides and at theirends. The grooves 1? extend entirely to the ends of the sections 16 sothat the ends of the grooves 'orn one section are dis osed on osite theends out the grooves of the other section of the same ring.

lisposed in the recesses 10 ont the ring groove 8 are sealing blocks 18These blocks 18 are arranged so as to bridge the space The recesses 11of' Meeres which isformed at-the meeting ends of the sections 16.Similar blocks 18 are mounted in the recesses 10 of the ring groove 9.@ne of the sides of the blocks 18 contact with the adjacent sides of thering sections 16, and these sides of the blocks 18l are provided witharcuate rin s 19, which fit into the arcuate grooves 1 4JEormed in theend portions ozt the ring sections 16.

Mounted slidably in the ends of the guide 12 and in the short guides 13are plungers 20. These plungers 20 have cylindrical portions 21, fromthe outer ends. of which project semi-cylindrical portions 22. The latsides of the semi-cylindrical portions 22 are provided with pivot studs23. Extending inwardly from the cylindrical portions 21 oit-the plungers20, arestems 2d. The stems 24C are of less diameter than the portions21.

The outer ends of the portions 21 of the plungers 20 bear against theinner edges of the ring sections 16, and the semi-cylindrical portions22 of theplungers are disposed in the recesses 11 ofthe grooves 8 and 9so that the pivot studs 23 tit in recesses 25 in the ring sections 16.Thus, the ring sections 16 are pivoted midway of their ends to theplungers 20.

In order to yieldably project the plungers 2O and therefore the ringsections 16 outwardly, spring means are mounted in the guides 12 and 13.Tn the4 guide 12, a single coil spring 26 is used. This spring `26 iscomparatively long and extends from one end of the guide 12 ,to theother, having its .end porotions disposed around the stems 211 of theplungers 20 mounted in the ends of said ''guide 12 and havin itsextremities bearing against the shou ders which `are formed atl thejunctions of the portions 21 of the plungers 20 with the stems 2dthereof. ln each of the guides 13 comparatively short coil springs 27are disposed. These coil springs 27 are conlined between the end Wallsof the guides 13 and the shoulders which are formed at the junctions ofthe portions 21 of the plungers 20 and the stems 24 of the latter.

To assemble the device, the springs 26 and 27 -must rst be plaoedf intheir respective guides and the sealing blocks 18 should also e placedin the grooves 10. The plungers 20 should then be placed in their properpositions with respect to the rino sections 16 and the ring sectionsshould he placed one by one in the .proper ring rooves, so that the endportions of the ri 19 will extend into and be disposed in the Lryrooves17 which are located in the ends of t ev seo1 tions 16. Since theplungers 20 slide in straight lines in their respective guides and sincethe ring sections 16 are connected by thev studs 28 to theplungers, thepiangere and the ring sections will only move straight lines. By reasonof this, the

grooves 17 are slightly Wider than the thickness of the ribs 19, so thatthe blocks 18 may be placed in order to permit their ribs 19 to havetheir end portions pass into the grooves 17 when the ring sections 16are put in place in the ring grooves of the piston.

The ring sections 16 are preferably made of bronze or some materialwhich will not unnecessarily wear away the Wall of an engine cylinder,and since the outer edges of the sealing blocks 18 also engagethe wallof an engine cylinder, `the blocks 18 are preferably ,made of softmaterial such as aluminum. It is preferable to have the ribs 19 made ofsteel or other hard material, so that there will be no appreciable wearbetween the ring sections 16 and the sealing blocks 18. The ribs 19 aretherefore made of steel or other hard'material and are cast by, a diecasting process onto the blocks 18. When the complete device isassembled .and placed in an engine cylinder, the spr-ings 26 and 27 willact at right angles to each other and force their respective 'ringsections 16 outwardly to maintain the piston "1 centered in thecylinder. face of the engine cylinder or as the outer edges of the rlngs15 wear, the springs 26 and 27 will keep forcing the complementarySections 16 of the packing rings farther and farther outwardly and thuscompensate for such Wear. As the complementary sections 16 of the rings15 are forced outwardly by the springs, the inner edges of the grooves17 will press upon and against the inner edges of the ribs 19 and forcethe sealing blocks 18 outwarlly, so that the outer edges of the sealingblocks 18 will be maintained at all times in engagement with thecylinder wall and will form a complete true circle with thecomplementary sections of the piston rings, regardless of how muchWearing of the parts takes place. Furthermore, the rings 15 bear orpress uniformly throughout their circumferential extent upon thecylinder wall. This is due to the manner in which the complementarysections 16 are connected at their meeting ends by the sealing blocks 18and also to the manner in which the complementary sections 16 areconnected to the plungers 2O so as to be caused to slide in straightlines. Thus, it will be seen that the sealing blocks 18 not only sealthe joints of4 the rings and serve as tie pieces for the ring sections,but they also act as pressure equalizers and assist in causing the ringsto bear or press uniformly upon the entire circumference of the cylinderwall.4

By having the guides 13 comparatively short with their closed inner endsvspaced a considerable distance apart, a space 14 is formed toaccommodate the pivoted end of the connecting rod 5. This space isneces- As the inner surarecomparatively deep and the rings 15 are'comparatively wide so that the piston is leak-proof.

From the foregoing description taken in' connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction, use and advantages of theinvention will be readily understood.

It is obvious that various changes in form, proportion, and in the minordetails of construction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit and principle of the invention, and without sacrificing any ofthe advantages thereof. and hence it is to be understood that suchchanges may be made within the meaning and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a pistonhaving a packing ring grove, a packing ring disposed in said groove,said ring .being made in two semicircular sections, sealing blocksmounted'in said groove and bridging the spaces between the Ameeting endsof said sections, arcurate ribs disposed upon said sealing blocks, 'theends of said sections being provided with arcuate grooves in which saidribs are received, said arcuate grooves being wider than said ribs arethick so as to permit'insertion of said ribs into said arcuate groovesas said sections are placed in said 4ring groove, outwardly .projectedspring-pressed plungers mounted upon said piston and bearing upontheintermediate portions of said vsect-ions flor yieldably forcing saidsections scribed comprising a block made ot compara-` tively soft metalhaving one edge curved to engage the wall of a cylinder, and an arcuaterib of comparatively hard material cast upon one side of said block.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto ai fixed my signature.

WCHAEL H. SULLVAN.

